Contents

Design

GTA IV

Police Cruiser badges.

Like the Police Patrol, the Police Cruiser can be found at any LCPD station, and is dressed in LCPD livery (based on that of the NYPD). It is faster and more agile than the Police Patrol. The Police Cruiser's chassis is also shared with Vapid's NOOSE Cruiser and Taxi. The grill was probably inspired by toy police cars that can be found in several stores in New York, which are based in the Ford Crown Victoria but have a larger, more rectangular grill and lack of manufacturer emblem.

A Police Cruiser when the player is busted in GTA Chinatown Wars.

The Police Cruiser is an amalgamation of various Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, thus probably powered by a tuned V8. Its tail lights are similar to those of a 1992-1994 model; the chassis, including: windows, headlights (however upside down, similar to a 1992-1997 Mercury Grand Marquis), and front and rear bumpers resemble those of the 1992-97 models; and the grille and hood look like those of the 1998-2011 models. The dashboard instrument cluster is unlike the Ford product, consisting of only a tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge and temperature gauge rather than the Crown Victoria's speedo, tach, central screen and gauges for fuel, temperature, oil pressure and volts.

The Police Cruiser does not appear as a drivable car in GTA Chinatown Wars (as the Police Patrol is the only police car in the game), but does occasionally surface as an aesthetic element of "busted" sequences, when a pre-rendered depiction of a modified Police Cruiser may be seen.

GTA V

In GTA V, the Vapid Police Cruiser is a vehicle used by the Los Santos Police Department. In the announcement trailer, a sports car is chased by a Police Cruiser. The new Police Cruiser boasts a white and black livery with LSPD markings. The skin is modled off of LAPD's iconic police skin, also instead of a V-BAR type lights,it has standerd police car lights. The Vapid Police car seems to have a new handeling line which will fix the problem, that if go around a corner fast and hit the curb your car will flip. From the trailer you can spot 3 different police vehicles that will patrol along side the standerd crusier in the city, in the countryside there is a "Sheriff's Cruiser" variant of the Vapid Police crusier. It is painted white and will probably be found along the city limits and beyond. The variant will probably have the same V-8 Interceptor Engine.

Based off the Ford Crown Victoria, here is the LSPD/SAPD Vapid Police cruiser, very similar to the one from GTA IV.

Performance

GTA IV

The Police Cruiser's high-performance V-8 (which real life variant is Ford's Police Interceptor V-8 engine) produces an impressive amount of torque off the line, and accelerates well. It has a low rev limit, which can be felt at higher rpms. Also, the engine feels as if it runs out of steam before the transmission switches gear. It has a higher top speed than its Declasse-branded competitor, but will not get there faster than the latest Bravado offering.

The car's weakness lies in its poor suspension, as the car experiences incredible amounts of body roll and has a tendency to oversteer off throttle. Stability is average at high speeds, but due to its very soft suspension the car does wallow and float about quite a bit. The car does appear to have some decent tires on it, however, which does help with improving the handling quality, if only just a bit.

Crash deformation is also average, and the suspension does not take very long to start meandering one way or the other. The engine is not fragile, but is certainly not the toughest to destroy in the game, although it fares better than the "Buffalo" Police Cruiser.

Variant

Another variant of the Police Cruiser in TBoGT, internally named "policew", oddly exists as a completely wrecked but drivable version of the GTA IV Police Cruiser. Depicted with a completely charred bodywork, the policew has no siren, non-functional lights and no radio, and emits a horn sounding like that of the Brickade's. Despite being a wreck, the policew is still vulnerable to damage from collisions and weapons. The vehicle however still has well above average performance, one nearly of that comparable to the Police Buffalo, instead of the regular performance as found in its un-wrecked Vapid counterpart. It has the motor sound of that found in the Police Buffalo, and its acceleration is the equivalent, along with top speed, and handling. The physical motor acts as if nothing is wrong with it, and runs as healthy as any good motor. Aside mods or hacking, the policew is otherwise unobtainable in the game. The car is regarded as a conventional traffic vehicle, and as a result, may also spawn in traffic if the player is driving a policew themselves.

Use in side-missions

When the player is stationary in any police vehicle they can access the Police Computer (this is done by pressing the L1 button (PlayStation 3), the LB button (Xbox 360), or the E key (PC), which lets Niko search for the most wanted criminals, monitor recent crimes in the area, search the police records and even call for backup. This is where the player can start the Vigilante-style side-missions and the Most Wanted side-missions.

Trivia

Like other emergency vehicles with roof-mounted strobe lights in GTA IV, the Police Cruiser's siren will malfunction by wailing in random, distorted pitches if the strobe light housing is significantly damaged by gunfire, falling objects, or rolling of the vehicle. The second and third sirens noises are also disabled, leaving the car with only the malfunctioning siren noise.

A bug exists where in GTA IV a fixed police car can be driven with a distorted siren, requiring the "repair car cheat", or, in multiplayer, a health kit. However, if the player turns off the siren while it is like this, then turns it back on, it will return to normal.

On the GTA IV DVD case, a Police Cruiser can be seen. However, the Police Cruiser on the case has the headlights and front bumper of a 1998–2011 Crown Victoria, when compared to the in-game model.

In multiplayer, the Police Cruiser has a normal radio; the same applies to all other emergency vehicles, and the Securicar.

In the Beta, the Police Cruiser had a registration number on the trunk, instead of the LCPD logo.

Glitches

Be careful when attempting to "save" a Police Cruiser (or Police Patrol) in a parking spot. Often times police officers will just enter the car and drive off, despite it being parked in "your" parking spot. This occurs with either a lone policeman, or if a policeman is chasing and apprehending a non-player criminal on the street then both will enter the car and the police officer will drive off. This tends to occur more often after just loading a save.